As video providers deliver video to consumers via telecommunication, cable, mobile, etc., revenue generated from advertising becomes increasingly more important to their profitability and viability. Advertisements may be inserted in video that is sent to customers. Delivering advertisements that are targeted to a customer increases the value of advertising. For addressable advertising, an advertisement may be inserted into video being sent to a specific customer that targets the customer's preferences. Advertising could also be targeted to a small set of subscribers based on demographics i.e. locality, age, income, etc.
The video stream is typically decoded to insert video insertion information advertisement in it. The advertisement may then be inserted into the decoded video, and then the video with the embedded advertisement is re-encoded. This adds complexity and cost to advertising insertion systems such as splicers, advertising servers and routing systems that are now required to decode and re-encode the whole frame for a picture with the advertisement. This increases processing requirements and also reduces the picture quality due to the extra decode/encode cycle.